Wall molding clamping devices



Oct. 30, 1962 w. J. HARVEY WALL MOLDING CLAMPING DEVICES Filed May 9,- 1960 I7 H H INVENTOR. E1. E1 M40044 J. yam/5r United States Patent Ofiice 3,060,530 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 3,060,530 WALL MOLDING CLAMPING DEVICES William J. Harvey, 1553 N. Main St., Clawson, Mich. Filed May 9, 1960, Ser. No. 27,647 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-74) This invention relates to a wall molding incorporating clamping means for easily positioning and releasably holding sheet material on a wall.

Various means have been employed heretofore to hold sheet material such as pictures, drawings, diagrams, and the like on a wall for display purposes, however, the several devices of the prior art have not proven entirely satisfactory inasmuch as they are complicated in design and construction, expensive to manufacture, diflicult to use, and unsatisfactory in performance.

With the foregoing in view, the primary object of the invention is to provide a wall molding embodying clamping means for positioning and supporting sheet material which is simple in design and construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, and completely capable of holding the sheet material in the desired spread and displayed condition.

An object of the invention is to provide a lineal member disposable on the wall surmounted by a second lineal member in spring pressed relationship thereto.

An object of the invention is to provide means for manually tilting the one spring pressed member relative to the other for inserting a sheet therebetween.

An object of the invention is to provide a wall molding having easily operable and releasable clamping means for selectively holding sheet material in displayed condition on the wall.

An object of the invention is to provide a trough and non-mating tongue rockably disposed in the trough to eliect over-center pivotal bias of the outer clamping molding relative to the inner molding in conjunction with the spring means associated therewith to selectively clamp one edge of the outer molding against the inner molding.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following description of a wall molding having clamping means embodying the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a face elevational view of two sections of the inventive molding disposed on a wall in operative position showing the one at the left in a nonclamping condition and the one at the right in clamping condition.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the left molding section of FIG. 1 taken on the line 22 thereof showing the unclamped condition.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional of the right molding section of FIG. 1 taken on the line 3-3 thereof showing the clamped condition.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 showing another form of the inventive molding employing a compression spring in the outer lineal member; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 4 showing the compression spring located in the inner-lineal member.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like numerals refer to like and corresponding parts throughout the several views, the sheet clamping wall molding embodiments disclosed therein to illustrate the invention comprise a first lineal member having a Wall contacting back 11 for annexation to the wall 12 and an extending face portion having parallel spaced strips or ridges 13 and 14 on either side of the trough 15 therebetween, and apertures 16 for receiving the clip 17 therein for connection to one end of the spring 18. The second outer lineal member 20 has a face portion including ridges or strips 21 and 22 adapted to contact the faces 13 and 14 respectively of the wall lineal member 10 as hereinafter more fully described and a central tongue between the edges 21 and 22 in nonmating relationship to the trough 15 so that the point of the tongue 23 rests in the apex of the trough 15 providing a rocking pivot point for the outer lineal member 20 between the positions seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. The tongue 23 is interrupted at the springs 18 and the outer lineal member 20 has an aperture for receiving a clip 17 similar to aperture 16. The outer lineal member 20 is also equipped with a spring clip 17 connected to the other end of the tension spring 18. It is to be noted that the straight or fall line of the spring between the clips 17 on either molding 10 and 20 is off-center relative to the tongue 23 point engagement with the trough 15 so that the tension of the spring and the point engagement of the tongue and trough spring biases the member 20 relative to the member 10 in the manually set positions illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. It is to be understood that the spring holds the outer lineal molding member 20 in the open position shown in FIG. 2 or in the clamped position shown in FIG. 3 holding the sheet 25 suspended and parallel with the wall 12.

Referring to the modification of FIG. 4 it will be noted that the inner lineal molding member 30 is equipped with a relatively large aperture 31 relative to the bolt stem 32 so that the bolt stern can tilt or cook relative to the molding member 30; the outer lineal member 33 has a face abutting the inner lineal molding member 30 and the outer member 33 is provided with a cavity 34 housing the spring 35 which is spring pressed against the back of the aperture 34 by the washer and nut arrangement 36. The cover strip 37 covers the head of the nut 36 and a rubber or felt inlay 38 may be employed in the outer molding 3-3 for the purpose of frictionally engaging the sheet 39.

In operating the device of FIG. 4, the user lifts upwardly on the edge 40 and, due to the over-size relationship of the aperture relative to the bolt, the outer molding 33 can be tilted relative to the inner molding 30 to provide a space therebetween adjacent the gripping inlay 38, for the purposes of inserting and extracting a sheet 39 and it is obvious that upon release of the edge 40 that the spring and associated members will drive the gripping edge 38 into compressed holding relationship against the sheet 39.

Referring now to the modification seen in FIG. 5, the inner or wall adjacent lineal molding member 50 houses the spring 51 and bolt 52 in an over-sized chamber both as to the spring and bolt and the bolt stem protrudes through the outer lineal molding member 53 through a diametrically over-size hole with the nut 54 hearing against the outer member 53 and the spring bearing against the inner member 50 holding the lineal members 53 and 50 together in spring pressed relationship. In operation of the device seen in FIG. 5, the user lifts the edge 55 upwardly creating a space between the lineal members 53 and 50 adjacent edges for inserting and extracting the sheet 56 therebetween and it is obvious that upon release of the edge 55 that the spring and associated parts will drive the outer lineal molding member into pressed gripping relationship with a sheet 56.

The inventive molding with the features described constitutes a compact, durable, and neat appearing molding easily installed on a wall and easily operated to insert and extract sheets therefrom and creates an attractive appearance on the wall both at the time of holding a sheet and also when not holding a sheet in suspension.

Although but a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it is obvious that many changes may be made in the size, shape, detail, and

arrangement of the various elements of the invention within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A wall molding incorporating releasable clamping means particularly suitable for easily positioning and holding sheet material on a wall in spread display such as pictures, drawings, diagrams, and the like, comprising a first lineal member securable on a wall, a second lineal member disposed over said first lineal member, spring means disposed between said members releasably forcing said second member against said first member; said second member being manually movable away from said first member to effect a space therebetween for inserting the edge of a sheet therein and manually releasable to permit said spring means urging said second lineal member toward said first lineal member to clamp and hold the sheet edge therebetween; said spring means comprising clips disposed on said lineal members and a tension spring connected to said clips drawing said lineal members together; said first lineal member having a longitudinal trough and said second lineal member having a nonmating tongue having an opening receiving said spring means and an extending edge rockably lying in said trough; said tongue and trough providing off-centering means in conjunction with said spring means to effect biasing said second lineal member into clamping relationship along one or the other of its lineal edges on either side of said tongue center.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 377,031 Jensen Jan. 31, 1888 488,058 Breed Dec. 13, 1892 15 622,610 Dudley Apr. 4, 1899 1,026,549 Almond May 14, 1912 1,302,654 Hall May 6, 1919 1,365,320 Hohnsbeen Jan. 11, 1921 2,753,653 Osterberg July 10, 1956 20 2,876,021 Potts Mar. 3, 1959 

